Hikmet Tanrıverdi, President of İHKİB, İsmail Gülle, President of İTHİB, Mustafa Şenocak, President of İDMİB, and Ahmet Hayri Diler, Vice President of İHİB, representing the four associations that make up İTKİB, came together with officials from the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, Istanbul Chamber of Industry and the leading associations of the textile and apparel industry at a dinner meeting on Wednesday evening, December 8, and discussed the effects of the crisis between Russia and Turkey on exports. President İlker Karataş attended the meeting on behalf of OTİAD.

 Hikmet Tanrıverdi, President of İHKİB; İsmail Gülle, President of İTHİB; Mustafa Şenocak, President of İDMİB; Ahmet Hayri Diler, Vice President of İHİB; İlker Karataş, President of OTİAD; Giyasettin Eyyüpkoca, President of LASIAD; Aydın Erten, President of BATİAD; Yusuf Gecü, President of MESİAD, TGSD President Şeref Fayat and TRISAD President Mustafa Balkuv came together with Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, Istanbul Chamber of Industry and leading officials of the textile and apparel industry at a dinner meeting on Wednesday, December 8 and discussed the effects of the crisis between Russia and Turkey on exports. A detailed presentation was made on the trade between Turkey and Russia and the participants shared their views on the extent of the crisis and what needs to be done. The issues emphasized by the participants and the solution proposals will be itemized by İTKİB officials and presented to the Ministry of Economy in the coming days.

 "Russia May Suffer More Than Turkey"
 At the meeting, Prof. Dr. Ümit Özlale, Economic Advisor to ITHIB Management, made a presentation titled "Detailed Russia Assessment: Problems and Solution Suggestions", Prof. Dr. Ümit Özlale, Economic Advisor to ITHIB Management, explained what this crisis could lead to in the future based on numerical data. Explaining the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the current crisis for Russia, Özlale evaluated the export and import rates of the trade sectors under the title of "Trade Relations with Russia". Özlale shared the textile and apparel export figures between Turkey and Russia between 2012-2014: "Russia is expected to suffer from this crisis as much as Turkey". As a result of all these problems, Özlale mentioned the necessity of opening up to different markets among the solution suggestions; and gave information about new markets that sectors such as textile, leather and sub-industry can open. Commenting on policies to support geographical diversification, Özlale stated that the crisis can be overcome in line with different solution proposals.

 700 Turkish stores in Russia
 The method known as 'suitcase trade' also plays an important role in textile and ready-to-wear exports between the two countries. Hikmet Tanrıverdi, President of the Istanbul Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters' Association, pointed out that ready-to-wear and apparel and textile exports to Russia are around 1.1 billion dollars annually, and that this figure is up to 5 billion dollars with the shuttle trade. Reminding that the business had already declined a little due to the economic crisis in Russia as of last year, Tanrıverdi said, "Such crises create a break in the psychology and trust of the people. If measures are not taken in a short time, we are in danger of losing half of our exports." Pointing out that there are more than 700 Turkish retail stores operating in Russia, Tanrıverdi said, "The situation of our stores will also be difficult. We are watching the process with concern. We expect the problems to be solved through diplomacy as soon as possible." Tanrıverdi stated that they will compile the problems experienced by the ready-to-wear and textile sector towards Russia and present them to the Ministry of Economy in the form of a report.

 It is wrong that political problems affect trade
 İsmail Gülle, President of the Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters' Association, stated that one of the sectors that will be most affected by the deterioration of relations with Russia is textile and ready-to-wear clothing and said, "The sector's exports to Russia are at the level of 1 billion dollars. Due to the economic situation in Russia, this market had already contracted by 40 percent last year. A new contraction in our exports would create a big problem for the Turkish textile and ready-to-wear sector."

 Leather exporters expect to overcome the crisis
 Evaluating the negative situation with Russia, IDMIB President Mustafa Åženocak reminded that they have been experiencing a trade loss due to the economic crisis in Russia for 2 years. Åženocak noted that the effects of the crisis in Russia have recently begun to pass and that the melting of stocks, especially in leather, are positive signals and said, "We had hopes that things would improve. But this crisis was not good. We may have to postpone our hopes."

 Shoemakers will turn to alternative markets
 The plane crisis with Russia has started to make its effects felt in the shoe industry. Following the crisis, order cancelations are coming from Russia, one of Turkey's most important shoe export markets. Saying that the goods they sent were not received, Hüseyin Çetin, President of the Association of Shoe Manufacturers of Turkey (TASD), reported that a difficult period has begun in Russia for the shoe industry. Reminding that Russia was Turkey's number one shoe market until two years ago, Çetin said: "Russia was our biggest market with 130 million dollars of purchases until 2 years ago. The blood loss in our exports to this country, which started last year due to the depreciation of the ruble and regional tensions, continues this year."

 KarataÅŸ: This is not an Economic Crisis but a Political Crisis!
 Speaking at the meeting, OTÄ°AD President Ä°lker KarataÅŸ pointed out that the sector is not in a position to do anything on how to overcome the crisis and emphasized that the problem is political. KarataÅŸ said the following: "This is not an economic crisis but a political crisis. Since we are not at the solution point of this political crisis, I think that we cannot be very involved in the issue. After Russia fell into an economic crisis, our exports fell to a great extent. When Russia is mentioned, the first region that comes to mind is Laleli and Osmanbey. When we look at the business, there are decreases up to 40-50 percent. Whether you look at registered figures or unregistered figures, the rate does not change. Even if we created our demands, we were constantly saying these demands during the period when the decline was 40-50 percent. After the plane was shot down, we brought these demands to the agenda again, so what has changed in this one year? When we look at what we have achieved from what we demanded that day, it is seen that there is no change. Therefore, I don't know if there will be any change in the future. We will wait for the decisions to be taken by the political will, we don't think there can be any other solution. This is our view."